The Diary of a Salesman: Starting from Memory Lane

THE DIARY OF A SALESMAN

With

Rasheed Adewusi

(Rasheed is a Sales Manager in one the telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria)

Many self-styled philosophers have advised that when life throws you lemon, you make lemonade out of them. This approach has worked for millions, yet it has given some other millions ulcers from excessive consumption of the acidic liquid. The fact of life is: laws, rules and logic are all constants in the equation of Life. Yes, there are exceptions, and there are mysteries, but those are just those, exceptions, not the rules. It is based on this realisation and where ut has taken me that I have undertaken to pen this column on weekly basis, to share my experiences as a Sales Professional, to highlight my hits, discuss my misses, share my learnings, and hopefully inspire some people to becoming better at their vocations. This is rather introductory, so it will be an exposition of how I came to be a Sales Professional.

I went through Secondary School with the Dream of becoming a Chartered Accountant, but Mathematics and I were not friends and by the time I had P7 in my Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Mathematics, I knew I had only two options- either I befriended Mathematics or I reviewed my career choice. I decided to face my enemy squarely and started studying Mathematics with vigour. While waiting for the opportunity to attack Mathematics again through General Certificate Examination (GCE), I had to try my brains/hands at University Matriculation Examination (UME) and with my mathematics-less SSCE results, I could only apply for Law or English Language, but I have never liked Lawyers simply because my moral spectrum then could only recognize white (good) or black (bad) and you have to fall into or one or the other, but never the two at the same time, and with lawyers defending anyone as long as they could pay, they were not the kind of people I wanted to be; and the thought that I would have to wear “black and white” uniform all through the university was nauseating, twelve years of wearing uniforms in Primary and Secondary schools were enough conformity, I was not going to allow that shackle my university days too. I filled Obafemi Awolowo University and English Language in my form, wrote the examination, passed, and was offered admission on Merit. However, despite all this thinking that went into this decision, this was supposed to be a stop-gap, the dream was still to study Accountancy, after passing Mathematics, I would just have to switch courses. Suffice to say I was able to pass Mathematics at second sitting, but I was still disillusioned with it because at that point, unlike all the other subjects I studied, I just could not transpose the equations on the pages of the textbooks onto the streets of Ebute-Metta where I grew up. English Language, Government, Economics, Commerce, Book-Keeping and Accounting, Literature in English, Yoruba Language, and even Biology were all courses I excelled in because I could experience them in real life, but Mathematics was my albatross because I just could not see any problem that “Almighty Formula” will solve, and I still cannot see it today. I had to attempt Mathematics in my UME and that affected my score, thus I had to face reality and continue my studies in the English Department.

My Ife days were filled with stories that would require several volumes of (auto)biographies to tell because I literally did not leave any stone unturned on that Campus. My University life centered around participating in every activity that caught my fancy: I played football in all the Halls of Residence (Angola, ETF and Fajuyi) I lived in, I was involved in journalism in all the Halls of Residence I lived in, I represented the Faculty in Inter-Faculty Football Competition, I was actively involved in politics at the Departmental level, I was actively involved in Campus Journalism and rose to become the Editor-in-Chief of the foremost Journalistic Outfit on campus – the Megaphone News Agency as well as the Departmental Media Outfit, I can count the number of times I missed any football match involving Arsenal on the tips of my fingers, I can still draw the map of Mozambique Hall and Moremi Hall right now, and I still graduated as the best student in my class. My OAU experience was as all-inclusive as it was rewarding, because it was during that period that I discovered myself and built most of the mutually beneficial relationship that I still keep till today. My OAU experience actually transformed me into believing that I could do anything I wanted and excel in it, as long as I am willing to apply myself, and that had been my outlook since then.

National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) year in faraway Sokoto town was basically spent studying GMAT, reading classic books, self teaching Microsoft Office Packages, applying to all online openings, and watching movies – that was the year 20-in-1 DVDs became popular, and the movies I watched in that one year was more than all the movies I had watched in all my years before then. My big hope after NYSC was to work anywhere the brains could be put to great use and the pay would be commensurate and the organization would be a springboard to greater heights; KPMG was my big dream, I actually took the test and passed while still in Ife, with the advice to come after graduation. Some would wonder why despite my love for Journalism, why not the Media, but I had been reliably informed that they pay peanuts, and I for one did not look like a monkey.

Post NYSC was a reality check. After several strikes by the triumvirate of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) conspired to make sure that by the time I was ready for the Labour Market post-NYSC, I had become too old to hire as a fresh graduate in a Consulting Firm, KPMG employment fell through, and I was in the Labour Market through and through. I continued to apply to all openings, one of which was Nigerian Bottling Company, I got invited for the test and the interview, and I got the job. The opening was supposed to be for Graduate Training, but after one-week training, I was thrown into the world of sales at the deep end.

That was how my journey as a Sales Professional started and it has taken me through Guinness Nigerian PLC, to Airtel Networks Limited where I presently work my magic. Stay tuned to this Column for exposition on the Magic.

Editor’s Note: Rasheed’s articles will appear on Sundays. This was delayed due to some technical issues.